Safety Starts With Me

In this episode we dive into the three "P's" of safety: Personal safety, Process Safety, and Psychological Safety and discuss how a focus on all three "P's" are needed to ensure that a safety culture is created within your organization.

It was a cold morning on March 12, 2009. The sun had just begun to rise over the North Atlantic, casting a dull glow over the icy waters east of Newfoundland. The offshore oil fields of Hibernia and White Rose, bustling hubs of energy production, awaited their daily crew change. Eighteen men and women climbed aboard Cougar Flight 491, unaware that in less than an hour, their flight would become one of the most tragic aviation disasters in Canadian history.

It was the evening of February 14, 1982, a night that began like many others on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland—cold, dark, and unforgiving. The Ocean Ranger, the world's largest semi-submersible drilling rig, stood sentinel over the icy waters of the North Atlantic, towering above the endless, restless sea. Its mission: to probe the depths of the Hibernia oil field, a promising frontier in offshore exploration. Built to withstand the ocean's wrath, the rig was believed to be unsinkable, a fortress of steel amidst nature's wild unpredictability.

Today, we’re discussing The Boeing 737 Max 8 lessons learned — a sobering tale with powerful lessons for safety, leadership, regulatory oversight, and corporate integrity.

We'll dive into what happened, the root causes, and how this crisis reshaped the aviation industry and beyond. We'll also highlight similarities between this incident and other, well-researched incidents, where we'll see similarities of lessons learned.

In this episode, we’ll define what emergency preparedness and response entail, cover the fundamentals of implementing a successful plan, explore best practices, and examine real-world cases where the lack of preparedness led to tragic outcomes. So, whether you’re a safety manager, business leader, or just passionate about creating safer workplaces, stick around!"

And remember, a key idea associated with Emergency Management and Response is that people do not rise to the occasion during a crisis, but sink to the level of their training.

Psychological safety is the belief that one can speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of punishment, ridicule, or reprisal. It’s about feeling safe to bring your whole self to work without the anxiety of making mistakes or being judged. The term was popularized by Harvard Business School professor Dr. Amy Edmondson, who defined it as a “shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

Essentially, in a psychologically safe environment, people feel comfortable asking questions, admitting errors, or suggesting new approaches. They don’t hold back due to fear of looking incompetent or uninformed.

During this episode, we’ll explore what Lockout/Tagout is, why it’s important, the fundamentals of how to perform it properly, some best practices, and real-world examples of what can happen when this process is neglected. So, whether you’re a safety professional, manager, or just passionate about workplace safety, stay tuned!

Today we’re going to dive into a topic that is crucial for keeping everyone safe on the road—whether you're commuting to work or transporting goods across long distances—it's called Journey Management.

And this is a perfect time to be thinking about Journey Management as the author of some of my favourite books is noted to say… “Winter is coming!”

Journey management might sound complex, but it’s essentially about planning and executing road journeys with safety at the forefront. We’ll break it down for you, covering its definition, why it’s so important, how to apply it, and the best practices to follow for every trip. Whether you’re a driver, a manager, or a safety professional, this episode has something for you.  And while journey management can be a complex subject when you think of the myriad of risk and safety concerns in the locations that you are applying it, it can be as a simple as the missive that we all received from our mothers at one time or another … “call when you get there.” 

It is a classic concept that hubris precedes the fall. Operational and technical arrogance—the idea that you and/or your organization is smarter than everyone else—is something that every leader needs to be constantly vigilant about. It is not only a signal of possible complacency, but it also runs counter to the process of learning from others and the self-awareness that every leader must foster about themselves, their team, and their business. This arrogance blinds leaders to signals—either obvious or more subtle—of impending concerns, risks, or issues that need their attention. Operational and technical arrogance still occurs in business today, just as it has done over the years.

Shortcuts, often seen as expedient routes to achieving goals with minimal effort, play a significant role in both everyday life and professional environments. While they can increase efficiency and save time, shortcuts can also pose substantial risks, particularly in safety-critical industries. In sectors such as construction, manufacturing, and healthcare, the temptation to bypass standard procedures to expedite tasks can lead to severe accidents, injuries, or even fatalities. The impact of these shortcuts on safety management is profound, necessitating robust strategies to mitigate associated risks.

The adverse effects of taking shortcuts in safety-sensitive contexts stem from the potential for critical steps to be overlooked, leading to inadequate hazard identification, insufficient risk assessment, and compromised safety measures. These omissions can result in unsafe work conditions, equipment failure, and human error. As a consequence, organizations face not only the direct costs associated with accidents but also long-term repercussions such as legal liabilities, reputational damage, and decreased employee morale.